CHAPTER 03

Layla’s Pov

“Mate.”

The word seemed to echo inside my drunken mind. I stared at the man standing beside my bed, trying desperately to make sense of what I had just heard. Mate?

My eyes traveled slowly over him. “I…” I stuttered as I tried to say something but my mind was blank. It took all my willpower to stay awake and I lacked the energy to even form any coherent sentence.

The room was dark and the only source of light was the dim rays of moonlight that spilled into the room from the open windows, but it wasn’t enough to fully illuminate the room.

“How did you get in?” the voice said.

I wanted to say this was my room; that he was the intruder; that he had no right to interrogate me but the moment I tried to prove my point by getting out of bed, the room tilted violently.

“Whoa—” My foot barely touched the floor before my knees gave way.

The stranger reacted instantly, his one arm wrapped around my waist, catching me before I could hit the floor.

The moment his hands touched me, my breath caught and a strange sensation rushed through my entire body, starting where his palm rested against my waist and spreading through me like a spark had suddenly been struck beneath my skin.

I froze. For the first time that night, the alcohol wasn’t the reason my head felt dizzy. Something else had awakened inside me and It was certainly something I had never felt before.

His scent surrounded me. It was deep and intoxicating, unlike the familiar scents of ordinary wolves I had grown used to throughout my life. There was something powerful about it, something that made every part of me want to move closer instead of pulling away.

My fingers curled against his chest and he went completely still. His gaze dropped briefly to my lips before returning to my eyes.

“You smell…” he muttered softly into my ears while inhaling deeply. “You smell really good.”

I wondered what he was raving about. All wolves had their own unique scent, all wolves except me. Then how could he say I smelt good? Oh! The perfume. It finally dawned on me that he was referring to the perfume.

He ran his hands all over my body, eliciting soft, moans from me. His eyes bore into mine and I could see that he clearly desired me. I didn’t want to surrender to him. I mean, I shouldn’t. He was a stranger and an intruder.

I didn’t want to give my virginity to a man I didn’t even know his name but the more I tried to resist his touch, the more it seemed impossible. The strange surge of feeling seemed to jolt through my body as he ran his hands on my thighs. He moved his hands forward with each passing second until his hands had reach my panties as he caressed it slowly before unzipping my gown letting it drop to the ground.

He planted a soft k!ss on my neck while his hand slightly rubbed my inner th!ghs. His warm tongue ran through my neck like a predator savoring the helplessness of his prey.

“Just kiss me already,” I growled and clasped my lips against his. I wanted him so badly and he was taking too long. Was this really the alcohol in effect?

I was too inebriated to say anything. Everything in me screamed I was doing something wrong, but I was too distracted by how I felt that I pushed the thought to the back of my mind.

“I…” the words choked in my throat as the pain and pleasure balled together and pierced my soul. It was such an incredible feeling that I got lost in the myriad of emotions that swirled through me. With each passing second, the pain receded and the pleasure got so intense that I thought I would pass out.

AT PRESENT

“Keep it down a bit, will you?” The stranger said, his palm still covering my mouth as he released it slowly.

I was staring at him wide-eyed when I noticed his icy-blue eyes. The same ones I had seen the previous night at the club.

“You are the guy from last night. Why are you here? And in my bed?” I asked, confused and startled that I was naked in bed, with a man that I clearly didn’t know. I quickly wrapped myself and got up from bed looking around to find my clothes scattered across the room.

“Can we at least talk about this calmly?” his baritone voice came through again.

“Talk about what. Get the hell out of my room.”

His brows pulled together. “But this is my room.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“This is my room,” he repeated, his voice calm despite the confusion written all over his face. “You’re the one who walked in here.”

I looked around the room again. “My friend gave me the keycard to this suite and we paid for it!” My voice echoed through the room.

Oh shit! Aria. Where could she have slept all night?

He took a step toward me, but I immediately stepped backward. “Don’t come near me.”

He stopped midway and there was something strange about the way he looked at me. He seemed just as unsettled as I was, almost as though he was trying to understand what was happening between us.

I could feel my face burning. My memories were still scattered, but there were enough pieces coming back, enough to make my face flushed. The bar. The alcohol. The hotel. Then him.

I wrapped the clothing tighter around myself. “You need to leave.”

He stared at me for a few seconds before sighing. “You’re not going to let me explain, are you?”

“No.”

He turned toward the window, running a hand through his hair. I watched him suspiciously but he took out his phone instead.

“Well, since you don’t want to leave, I will.” I spun around and began searching frantically around the room for my things. My dress was on the floor near the bed. My shoes were underneath the chair beside the nightstand.

But my phone was nowhere. I emptied everything onto the bed, digging through the contents with shaking hands. “Where the hell is my phone?”

The stranger looked toward the small table beside the window. “Over there.”

I followed his gaze and the phone was sitting right beside a glass of water. I rushed toward it, grabbed it, and quickly checked the screen. There were several missed calls from Aria.

My heart sank. “Oh my God.”

She must have been worried sick. I shoved the phone into my purse and grabbed the rest of my things.

The stranger watched silently. “Wait. Can I at least get your name?”

I ignored him and opened the door. “We won’t ever meet again so let’s just pretend this never happened.”

For a moment, our eyes met. Something about his gaze made me hesitate but I shook the thought away immediately. I didn’t have time for this. I needed to be back home before breakfast.

I stepped into the hallway and looked back at him one last time before shutting the door. The sound echoed through the quiet hallway and I leaned against the wall for a moment, breathing heavily.

What the hell had I done? I pushed myself away from the wall, looking at the door again and that was when I noticed the room number. 401. I quickly removed the keycard from my purse to confirm the number.

“You must be kidding me, Layla?” I grumbled annoyingly to myself as I realized I had just made a fool out of myself and almost chased a man out of his own space.

Thank the goddess I actually stormed out myself. I hate alcohol. I quickly hurried down the hallway, dialing Aria’s line back before she would call again.

She picked up after one ring. “Layla!”

I immediately pulled the phone away from my ear when her voice exploded through the speaker.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all night ! Do you have any idea how worried I was? Where did you go last night? What happened to you?”

I winced and pressed the phone back against my ear. “Aria, calm down.”

“Calm down?” she repeated incredulously. “You disappeared! I waited for you at the hotel until I almost went crazy. I called you over and over again, but your weren’t picking up. I thought something happened to you.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re fine?”

“Yes.” I lowered my voice as I continued walking towards the elevator. “I will… explain later.”

There was a brief silence. How was I supposed to explain that I had somehow walked into the wrong room, climbed into a stranger’s bed and lost my virginity? Just thinking about it made the heat rush to my cheeks.

“Layla, where are you right now?”

“I’m leaving the hotel.”

“Good, just come straight home.”

I frowned. “What’s going on?” Something about her tone made me stop walking.

“I don’t know how to explain it over the phone.” She said in a more serious tone. “But you need to come back to the pack house right now.”

“Why? Did they find out we slept out?”

“No, not that. Your father wants to see you.”

I frowned even harder. “My Father? A hint please?” I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor.

Aria sighed.

“I saw Alpha Adrian talking to your father when I came over this morning to check if you had returned to the pack house.”

My grip tightened around my phone. “What do you mean?”

“It seems like something is up but I have no idea.”

The elevator doors opened and I stepped outside, walking toward the hotel entrance. “Fine. I’m coming.”

I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my purse. The morning air immediately hit my face, and I took a deep breath.

I needed to go home. I needed a shower. I needed to forget last night ever happened and most importantly, I needed to figure out why the hell Alpha Adrian was at my house so early.